2016 - 04 April Game Informer

8/18/2019 2016 - 04 April Game Informer

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THE WORLD’S #1 VIDEO GAME MAGAZINE

A NEW BEGINNING BRINGS SUSPENSE BACK TO THE BELOVED SERIES


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Fantasy Violence

Mild Suggestive Themes

Mild Blood

Use of Alcohol

DARE TO RISK

EVERYTHING IN

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4/100

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5/100

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A GloriousSaturday

It’s early; the sun is still breaking

through the morning fog. The house is

filled with the smell of freshly roasted

coffee, and my dog gently throws a ball

repeatedly at my feet.

We already played, but Barnaby rarely

gives up on the game. He has a lot incommon with me, as I’ve already turned

on my PC and fired up Darkest Dungeon.

My most recent addiction, well scratch

that…I’ve always hated the word addic-

tion when it comes to games. I prefer to

say that I’m just extremely dedicated. It

puts my love of games in a better light.

Right now, I’m “dedicated” to Darkest

Dungeon in the morning. Nothing quite

like waking up to a dungeon crawl where

most of my party is likely doomed to a

gruesome death or some other malady.

Like most people, I find that games are

a part of my day-to-day. After running

some errands to get life things done, Idecide my afternoon needs to be dedi-

cated (there’s that word again) to finish-

ing Firewatch. All my friends are talking

about it.

“OMG, the ending is the worst,” is

heard repeatedly, but other friends prom-

ise me the journey is worth it despite its

flaws. I travel the forest as Henry, and

while I have some minor issues, I regret

nothing. Firewatch is a great game.

After dinner with the family, and more

time throwing that ball for the dog, I fire

up my PlayStation and find myself bathed

in the light of Destiny. It’s my current

comfort food. I’m overly dedicated to it.Sure, the game ran out of content long

ago, but I’m a creature of habit. I love

what I love.

Games today are such amazing things.

As a kid, I plowed through them like it

was a race. Could I defeat every game

that ever came out on the Nintendo

Entertainment System? I sure tried, and

it was glorious. These days, I tend to go

less for how many things can I knock out

as quickly as I can, and more with a “how

many games can I savor?” approach.

It’s late. Time for bed. I fade out of con-

sciousness thinking that tomorrow I might

play XCOM 2 or Far Cry Primal to see if Ishould dedicate more time to them. My

dog licks my face. He probably wants to

play too.

Games are an important part of our

lives (and my dog’s apparently). Make

sure you take the time to sit back and

enjoy them.

Enjoy the issue.

Cheers,

Gears Of War 4 After its reveal at E3, we were left with morequestions than answers about the next entry

in the Gears of War series. In our exclusive look we answermany of those questions to see how the series is mak-ing a return to its suspenseful roots, and find out wherethe game takes place on the Gears timeline. We also learnmore about its new protagonist, JD, and his two partners.

38

4

v i s i t g a m e i n f o r m e r . c o m d a i l y f o r t h e l a t e s t a n d

g r e a t e s t , a

n d f o l l o w @ g a m e i n f o r m e r o n T w i t t e r

Read my column or

comment on this letter at

gameinformer.com/mag

or follow @GI_AndyMc

ANDY McNAMARA

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

[email protected]


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82Far Cry PrimalHow does the

Far Cry series fare withoutguns? Find out here.

71Teenage MutantNinja Turtles

Bayonetta’s creators bringtheir action expertise to theTestudinata ninjas.

83Street Fighter VWe weigh in on the

newest entry in the popularfighting series.

91Fire Emblem FatesWe have our

reviews of both versions ofthe new Fire Emblem.

90XCOM 2Firaxis’ brutal, but

undeniably entertainingalien-invasion sim returns.

88The FlameIn The Flood

Former BioShock develop-ers banded together forsomething very different.

64Star Fox ZeroWe played the new

Star Fox for Wii U, andspoke to Shigeru Miyamoto

about it.

68AbzûJourney’s artists return with beautiful undersea exploration

on PlayStation 4.

94Classic: Pokémon Red & BlueWe look back at the first games in the series as Pokémon

celebrates 20 years.

Abzû . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Ace Combat 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Battleborn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Battle Chasers: Nightwar . . . . . . 52

Blade & Soul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Conan Exi les . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Crashlands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Far Cry P rimal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82

Final Fantasy XV . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Fire Emblem Fat es . . . . . . . . . . .91

Firewa tch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Flame In The Flood, The . . . . . . 88

Gears of War 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Heroes of the Storm . . . . . . . . . 73

Hex: Shards of Fate . . . . . . . . . . 89

Homefront: The Revolution . . . . 66

Homeworld:

Deserts of Kharak . . . . . . . . . . 92

Indivisible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Klaus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Layers of Fear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Lego Marvel’s Avengers . . . . . . 84

MLB The Show 16 . . . . . . . . . . . 74

New Hot Shots Golf . . . . . . . . . . 75

Plants vs. Zombies:

Garden Warfare 2 . . . . . . . . . . 88

Pokémon Red & Blue . . . . . . . . . 94

Pony Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Project X Zone 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Star Fox Zero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Street Fighter V . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Tales of Berseria . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Mutants in Manhattan . . . . . . . 71

Unravel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Walking Dead:

Michonne, The. . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Warhammer 40,000:

Eternal Crusade. . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Westport Independent, The . . . . 92

Witness, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

XCOM 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

52Battle Chasers: NightwarDarksiders creator Joe Madureira is returning to his comic

book roots with a continuation of his unfinished Battle Chasersseries in the form of a turn-based RPG.

6 contents

games index


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©2 0 1 6 .Wm.Wr i gl e y J r . C om p an y .

J ui cy F r ui t and al l af fi l i at ed d es i gns ar et r ad e

mar k s of Wm.Wr i gl ey J r .C ompany or i t s af fi l i at es .

A Sweet Piece of Fun.


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Contact Us

[email protected]

Agree To DisagreeI just read your Top 50 Games of2015 feature (issue 274) and thoughtit was great. I always enjoy the issuethat comes after the Top 50, whichincludes all the letters about howbiased you are and how certain com-panies are paying you to represent

them. These people seem to forgetour hobby is subjective. Just becauseyou like a game and I don’t doesn’tmean that one of us is corrupt orincompetent; it’s just a difference inopinion. Honestly, that’s what thismagazine is here to do – give us opin-ions on games so that we can makeeducated purchasing decisions.We all have different views, and weshould use them to have an open dis-cussion on why we like certain gamesor why we don’t. But please keepprinting the hate mail as it providesgreat entertainment when sitting on

my throne. BryanSan Antonio, TX

When you state it that eloquently,

Bryan, getting angry over whose

favorite games are “better”

just seems downright foolish.

Nevertheless, choosing our list

of winners was no easy task, and

incited a week of arguments in

the G.I. office. We can’t blame

readers for disagreeing with our

opinions, but we can publish the

most cantankerous replies for your

personal amusement.

…Or NotYou guys are so far up your ownbutts for snubbing Rainbow Six Siegeon the Top 50. Let’s put Assassin’sCreed and Call of Duty in there forthe millionth time instead! Seriously,Siege is an incredibly unique, refresh-ing, and challenging shooter, but it

gets no love. It’s easy to play, buthard to master, and the challengeand strategy are what offer content.It never gets old; the game is easilyworth $60.

Tony W.

via email

Andy, Miller, and Wade are idiots forchoosing Destiny: The Taken Kingas their GOTY. A few staff mem-bers chose games like Bloodborne,Fallout 4, and Batman: Arkham Knight,which I can actually respect becausethose are pretty good games – they

aren’t just repackaged with new con-tent that should have been includedin the initial release in 2014! Overall,you guys got it right. The Witcher 3was hands-down game of the year;

I read an article that stated it had closeto 130 GOTY awards, and Fallout 4 wassecond with like 26. I mean, it’s not evenclose. I played a lot of good games thisyear, but The Witcher 3 is one of thebest I have ever played. Destiny is notan all-time great game; it’s a good time-waster, but it has no real staying power

or substance. I am not usually one toinsult someone for their opinion, but inthis case I have no choice.

Daniel Lindsey

via email

Actually, you do have a choice, Daniel.

We don’t know how someone can

be “wrong” about what their favorite

game of the year is, but the number

of awards a title wins shouldn’t have

any effect on your enjoyment of it,

and it certainly doesn’t factor into

whether a game makes our list or not.

As for Rainbow Six, the thrill of Siege’scombat got some love in our Top 10

Moments list, even if the shallow cus-

tomization and dearth of content (nar-

rowly) kept it from making the Top 50.

Our Top 50 list received the appropriate amount of praise and

gripes this month, and other readers discuss Nintendo’s nextconsole and what to do about broadband data caps.

8

f e

e d b a

c k


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Primal InstinctI’ve been addicted to the Far Cry fran-

chise since day one. Far Cry 4 was not

flawless, but still amazing to me. After

reading the Far Cry Primal preview in

issue 274, I’m let down by the new take

on the franchise. Going to the caveman

era seems pointless. You tame animals

and upgrade your bow and other melee

weapons. What other weapons? A

rock? What enemy outposts will you

conquer? A cave or animal-skin tent?

I know I shouldn’t judge a game untilI play it, but my guess is it will fail to

compare to the other great Far Cry

titles. Primal seems like a step back in

a time where developers need to step

up. I’ll still give it a try, but I’ll probably

rent it or wait for it to hit the bargain bin.

Hopefully I’m dead wrong – I’ll gladly

admit so and eat my humble pie!

Cody Valentine

via email

You’re not the only one to raise an

eyebrow at Far Cry Primal’s prehis-

toric setting, Cody. However, would

expanding Far Cry’s already massiveopen-world setting or adding more

guns to the series’ bloated arsenal

qualify as stepping up? Or is taking

the series in a completely new direc-

tion the more ambitious venture?

Either way, Far Cry Primal is certainly

a gamble; you can decide for yourself

if it paid off by reading our review on

page 82.

Cap ConOver the past year, Comcast has begun a “trial” data usagepolicy where you get 300 gigabytes of monthly data and haveto pay $10 for every 50 gigs thereafter. As a gamer and user

of streaming services, this is deeply troubling to me. BothPlayStation and Xbox have robust digital stores. With gamesranging 20 to 50+ gigs per game, plus streaming services,updates, etc., it seems what Comcast is doing is prohibitive tothe consumer. I’m afraid that if this is allowed to become thenorm, other Internet providers will join suit. Is there anythingthat we as gamers can do besides initiating a complaint tothe FCC?

Doug DuboisFlorida

Data caps and overcharging schemes are a serious threatto net neutrality, and will only become more punitive to

customers as data usage increases in the coming years.Other ISPs are already following in Comcast’s footsteps,but as with most corporate-driven dilemmas, advocacyis your greatest weapon. Complaining to (or switching)your ISP, contacting your federal elected officials, andlending your name to petitions all help increase aware-ness and may cause ISPs to rethink their plans. Advocacy

groups like Stop The Cap! offer more ways to make your voice heard.

(Left) This month we to

a trip to Vancouver, Canto see The Coalition’s ne

approach to Gears of Wa

Read all about it on pag

(Right) Andy visited

Austin-based developer

Certain Affinity. Back row

Alex Chrisman, David M

Laura Zimmermann, Ma

Oztalay, and president

Max Hoberman. Front ro

Deborah Beckman, Core

May (of AC fame), and

Mojdeh Gharbi

g i s p y

PHOTOS FROM THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY

Short AnswersTo Readers’BurningQuestions:

“Have any of you played

God of War III?!!”

Sure have!

“Do you think Activision

will ever remaster Call o

Duty 4 for the PS4 and

Xbox One?”

Actually, we’re sur-

prised they haven’t

already.

“The Division just looks

like more must group

must be social BS

to me?”

Huh?

Worst

News Tip OfThe Month:

“For the next top ten

you should do Top Ten

Dogs In Gaming, it’ll be

hit man.”

WorstOpening LineTo A FeedbackLetter:

“I know here’s not the

place to talk about

it, but I have no oneto complain about

this issue.”

QuestionOf The Month:

What is your go-to game

recommendation for new

players, and why?

feedback 9


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(Left) Andy recently

got a tour of theNational Videogame

Museum in Frisco,

Texas, where co-

founder Joe Santulli

showed him the

world’s biggest Pong

machine.(Right)

We managed to pry

some of the fine

folks at Giant Squid

away from Abzû just

long enough to take

this pic.

What’s NX?I found your speculation on the

Nintendo NX to be quite interesting

(What We Want From The Nintendo

NX, issue 274). In addition to the

essentials you mentioned, I’d like to

see Nintendo put an end to region

locking. The archaic practice does

nothing but stop us from importing

a few games that aren’t localized

for us, so we don’t get to play them

and Nintendo misses some poten-

tial sales. Although the decision ofregion locking won’t make or break

the NX, it would certainly be an

easy way for Nintendo to show that

it’s listening to fans.

Bobby Miller

via email

One point in your Nintendo NX arti-

cle made me scratch my head in

puzzlement. It stated that Nintendo

filed a patent for a controller

dominated by a touchscreen, two

analog sticks, shoulder buttons,

built-in Wi-Fi, cross-play function-

ality – what does that remind meof? Oh yeah, the PlayStation Vita.

And look where it is now: The lack

of marketing, shelf presence, and

developer support has left it with

one foot in the grave. Do you think

Nintendo can make it work after

Sony seems to have failed?

Jeff Dabbs

via email

The (still theoretical) Nintendo NX

controller certainly sounds a lot

like Sony’s Vita, but you shouldn’t

take the similarities as a portent

of doom. Unlike Sony, Nintendohas a long history of successful

and well-supported handhelds

dating all the way back to the

original Game Boy. While it’s still

possible that nothing may come

of the patent, if Nintendo could

pair a multi-functional controller

with a beefier home console, it

could offer players the best of

both worlds in a single package.

Where Does The Time Go?In issue 274, we asked readers what game they played the

most of in 2015. Unsurprisingly the replies highlighted many

of the biggest and best games of the year.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, plain and simple. The quality of CD

Projekt Red’s world engrossed me from the start. The story, charac-

ters, writing, and quest design were all amazing and addictive.

Sam Caloras

I spent the most time playing Metal Gear Solid V; easily the best

game I’ve played in a while. Aside from the addicting gameplaythat kept me coming back for more, I feel like I’m in the minority

because I actually loved the story too – but maybe I’m biased

since I’m a huge Metal Gear fan!

Ahmed Abdalla

According to Xbox Live, my most played game of 2015 was

Destiny. I got sucked back in with each new DLC drop.

Jordan Smith

On Your Mind

Top 50 Cheers/Jeers

Most Played Games

In 2015

Witcher 3 Love

Destiny Haters

Difficulty Of

Difficulty Kudos

10 feedback


13/100

Find out more at TheRealCost.gov

If you’re playing with

cigarettes, you’re

harming your teeth.

Smoking cigarettes can cause serious

gum disease that makes you more likely

to lose your teeth than someone who

doesn’t smoke.


14/100

WINNER

1 Amberly NealThis art just makes us want a Shadow of Mordor

sequel. What could Monolith be working on next…

2 Jake Fitzgerald As far as the best blue, jawless charac-

ters go, Raziel is definitely in the top 10

3 Adam SilverSorry, guys: Luigi’s Mansion already

proved the plumber would make a

terrible Ghostbuster

4 Terrance OsborneThink Destiny doesn’t have enough

content? Follow Terrance’s lead and

illustrate your own adventures

5 Ian RichardsonHere’s the American Gothic/Martian

Gothic mash-up you never asked for

1

(Left) Readers Ryan

McLaughlin and KatieFinnell joined the GI crew

for a special episode of

Replay, which included a

urprise marriage proposal.

We’ll let you guess who the

newly engaged couple is.

(Right) EA’s Brad

Hilderbrand and Brian

Hayes dropped by this

month to show us EA

Sports UFC 2, and spotted

some familiar classics in

the vault.

12 feedback

g a l l e r y

» Submit your art for a chance to win our monthly prize. Please include your name and return address. Entries become the property of Game Informer and cannot be returned.

Send to: Game Informer Reader Art Contest | 724 First Street North, 3rd Floor | Minneapolis, MN 55401 or Email to: [email protected]


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THE NEW DIRE

14

NOTABLES

20 top tenhelicopter fights

22 romero returns to hell

24 afterwords:

the witness

28 massive: blade & soul

30 overheard at dice

36 opinion: the virtues

of going into agame blind


17/100

or decades, Final Fantasy reigned supreme as the primary pillar of

the RPG genre. With every console since the NES, it innovated and

set new standards for the genre, from the cinematics of Final Fan tasy

VII to the fully voiced cutscenes of Final Fantasy X. However, within

the last decade, the franchise has started to fall from grace.

Final Fantasy XIII was divisive, and was worse off for being

drawn out over a lackluster trilogy. Final Fantasy XIV, an MMORPG,

was such a disaster that the game had to be essentially remade

and relaunched as A Realm Reborn. Seven years after it had been

announced, the long-awaited Final Fantasy Versus XI II morphed

into Final Fantasy XV. Fans lost trust, and Square’s name no longer held the same weight as

it once did. In the meantime, Western RPGs, such as Mass Effect, The Elder Scrolls, and The Witcher were innovating the genre in unique ways while the Japanese market stagnated.

All eyes are on Square Enix’s next move to see if Final Fantasy will once again be an RPG

powerhouse. Two men in particular have been tasked with reviving the franchise for a new

generation of gamers: Hajime Tabata and Naoki Yoshida. Tabata is directing Final Fantasy

XV, and Yoshida continues to head up Final Fantasy XIV after his successful revamp with A

Realm Reborn.

After visiting Square Enix’s offices in Tokyo, it became even clearer how these different

personalities are driving the brand forward.

Meet the two

men updating the

franchise for a

new generation

of gamers

CTION OF FINAL FANTASY

by Kimberley Wallace

connect 15


18/100

THE REVOLUTIONIZER

Long before Naoki Yoshida even enters the room, I hear

heavy footfalls from his combat boots and the jangling

of his metal jewelry. From his chains to all-black attire,

Yo shida has his own style. In many ways, Yoshida has al-

ready proved himself, with fans calling him the man who

saved Final Fantasy XIV, but he has the task of keeping the

MMORPG afloat and entertaining for years to come.

Yoshida is matter-of-fact and doesn’t skirt around the is-

sues. This was evident when he went on stage at the 2014

Game Developers Conference and candidly spoke about

the failure of Final Fantasy XIV’s first launch. He admitted

to all its faults, citing a server that would go down up to

400 times per day, a lack of content and bare-bones story,

and the team spending more resources on graphics thanthe gameplay.

It was an eye-opening talk, where Yoshida said Square

tapped him to fix the mess. He knew his only option was

to rebuild the game entirely. Enter A Realm Reborn, which

holds a Metacritic score of an 86 on PS4 and 83 on PC,

a far cry from the initial launch score of 49. The recent first

expansion, Heavensward, came out to much success, en-

abling the game to maintain a subscription-based model,

something most MMOs outside of World of Warcraftcan’t sustain.

When I bring up the project, Yoshida flat-out refers to it as

a failure. He believes the only way for Square Enix to come

back from Final Fantasy XIV’s disastrous first impression is

to be up front. “It’s easy to look away from your mistakes,

but then you’re bound to repeat them if you don’t address

them,” he says.

Yoshida’s solution to Final Fantasy XIV was to “make it

feel like a Final Fantasy game.” He addressed this in numer-

ous ways to various callbacks such as moogles, chocobos,

and jobs like the black and white mage. “I wanted to make

a giant Final Fantasy theme park, and that means bringing

anything in from the series and having something for all

fans, all generations of the series,” he says.

One of the things Yoshida is known for is interacting withthe players and making sure their voices are heard. While

he admits he can’t put everything they ask for in the game,

he’s made it a point to be open with the fans since he took

over. This open approach has been a different tactic than

the Square Enix of the past. The company had a reputa-

tion for not being communicative with its fans, but Yoshida

thinks it’s essential and has been happy with the results.

“I like to look at it as playing catch with a player and be in

communication that way,” he says. “They give us ideas

and we tell them why we can implement them and why

we can’t.”

To keep up with the changing times, Yoshida has spent

his time thinking of ways to make an MMORPG for this

generation of gamers, who don’t have a lot of time on their

hands. He says the slow grinds of EverQuest and Ultimaaren’t feasible in this landscape. “One of the best things

about our game is that even if you’re a very busy person

you can play this game and be rewarded for it,” he says.

If all goes according to plan, Square Enix and Yoshida

will be involved with Final Fantasy XIV for the long haul. His

plans are simple: have frequent updates, stable servers,

and copious content. “I’ve played a lot of MMOs, and I look

at it as if an MMO can last a decade then it’s a success,

so that’s our current goal that we can get it to 10 years,”

Yoshida says. “Saying we want to have this game out for 10

years is easy, but creating a fan base that will stick with the

game for 10 years and having a game system that will sup-

port the game for 10 years, that’s part of our plan – having

something that will be viable in 10 years’ time. So, we’ve

already started working on the next expansion.”

PKed: Naoki Yoshida’s First Venture Into Ultima

Naoki Yoshida is an honest guy who isn’t afraid to poke fun at himself.

When asked about his first ventures into MMORPGs, he was quick to

bring up Ultima Online. “It shocked me just like the first time I played

Super Mario Bros. back when I was eight,” Yoshida says. In fact, it was

in Ultima Online where he chatted in a game for the first time...with aguy who had repeatedly PKed him.

“The first time I played, I saw this guy come with a red name and

thought, ‘This is someone in the world coming to play with me,’ and

then he killed me,” he recalls laughing. The inexperienced Yoshida kept

clicking revive and getting killed. “After this went on for three times, the

guy sent me a message: ‘Dude, stop! You shouldn’t be doing this. You’re

a newbie, right? If you keep doing this, your skills are going to go.’”

The other player took pity on Yoshida and gave him tips, but Yoshida

was just amazed that he was chatting with someone inside the game

and discussing it with them. “And that’s when I learned that in an

MMORPG anything is possible,” Yoshida says. “It is the players that are

creating that world, and that for me was very, very exciting.”

Naoki Yoshida

16


19/100


20/100

In the past, the series could get away with focusing more

on mastering its technical prowess than progressing in oth-

er areas, but that won’t work anymore. “We are no longer

the only triple-A RPG out there, and ever since the PS2

and onward, a lot of the Western [developers] have gained

prominence both in size and in terms of technological prog-

ress,” he says.

He knew he had to be communicative with the consum-ers about the state of the Final Fantasy XV, but he also real-

ized he had to align expectations for his own staff. “A lot

of the staff on the Final Fantasy development team have

been with the franchise a long time,” he says. “They have

this sense that they’re special because they’re developing

a Final Fantasy title and whatever they create will be well

received. That kind of mindset had been ingrained in them

for a very long time, and so we had to start by resetting

everything to create something that would appeal to the

current generation.”

A lot has happened in the years since Final Fantasy XIII

debuted. Most notably, the scope of games and this gen-

eration’s trend toward open-world adventures. One of the

big things he wanted for Final Fantasy XV was to make it

open world. In the current landscape, Tabata doesn’t think

you can compete with the top RPG makers without one.

“We felt it was very important to deliver an open-world type

of environment, so the development team decided to go in

that direction and really commit to it,” he says. “To push this

title out globally, it was essential to have an open world.”

Previously, Tabata worked on Crisis Core: Final Fantasy

VII and Final Fantasy Type-0. Both of these titles are noted

for their more poignant moments, such as Crisis Core’sending sequence, where you must accept Zack’s fate. An

emotional connection to the game is integral to Tabata’s

design style. “I like to create games that are in sync with

real life and reality to a degree...something that drives your

emotions that you can really feel,” he says.

This is something Tabata has been adamant about craft-

ing into Final Fantasy XV. According to him, much of the

game is focused on the human drama of the main charac-

ter, Noctis. “The player is with the character through and

through and sees the growth of the main character,” Tabata

says. He uses an example of seeing him fish for the first

time and then watching him grow up to love fishing. He

also says to expect flashback sequences to give you a bet-

ter idea of how Noctis became the person he is. “A lot of

[previous] titles focused on one time in adulthood, and inthis title you’ll understand his childhood and growth from a

boy into a man,” Tabata says.

He hopes this helps the player form a connection with

Noctis, which plays into one of his biggest goals for the

game. “I want to create a very emotional ending to the

game and want to make as many people cry as possible,”

he says. “You’re spending so many hours playing the game,

so when I finish a game and it ends on a sour note and it

doesn’t move me, it gets me disappointed. At least make

me cry or give me some emotion! I want to give a moving

ending for the consumers who invest so much time.”

His other goal is a bit more ambitious. Tabata recalls the

impact Final Fantasy VII made on the industry, and says his

objective for this team is to create a similar reaction when

Final Fantasy XV releases. “There are some team membersthat were here for VII,” he explains. “They’re taking on the

challenge of trying to exceed that title once more, which is

a great motivator for them. VII sets a very high goal for us,

but it serves as a good goal. It brought in new audiences,

sales, and more.”

An Unpredictable Road Trip

Time will tell if both Tabata and Yoshida reach their larger

goals, but it’s clear both are thinking realistically about

the state of the RPG genre and their company. Everybody

loves a comeback story and seeing Final Fantasy bring the

innovation, awe, and confidence it once did would be re-

freshing. But as we’ve seen, this generation doesn’t come

with any promises for any developer. Expectations are con-

stantly rising and new bars are continually being set.\

Getting Into Final Fantasy

Both Hajime Tabata and Naoki Yoshida fell in love with games with a

little help from our favorite red plumber in Super Mario Bros., but they also

recall fondly their admiration for Final Fantasy and have their favorites for

different reasons.

Yoshida has two favorites. Based purely on gameplay systems, he’s a

big fan of Final Fantasy III, but he also loves Final Fantasy VII for its story.

“When you look at earlier Final Fantasy games, you think of the ATB system

and the job system. Final Fantasy III was the first to have all of those in

a complete form, and that’s why I look at it as a perfect system,” he says.

“And with Final Fantasy VII, it being one of the first 3D RPGs, as well as theamount of content and type of content, it felt like an MMO, all of the things

you could do in the game. I know Final Fantasy VII inspired a lot of people

in the West.”

Tabata talks fondly of his time with the first and second entries, re-

membering when the title screen hits after the first boss in the original

Final Fantasy and how the second game opened with a boss battle that

impressed him, making him feel he was a part of an action movie. However,

Final Fantasy VI also remains at the top of his list, “For VI felt like they deliv-

ered a really unique story and they were doing something challenging and

new and being very confident with showing it to the world.” He came to

appreciate Final Fantasy VII even more because he was a developer at the

time and realized how much the game was helping push the genre forward.

18 connect


21/100


22/100

Helicopter Fights

Resident Evil 3: NemesisMonsters and grotesque versions of unpleasant animals

are the typical enemy in Resident Evil, which is why a

helicopter fight feels unconventional. It’s a quick fight,

but one that stands out for eschewing expectations.

Uncharted 2: Among ThievesNathan Drake’s vacation to South Asia was a disaster.

He doesn’t so much fight a helicopter in Nepal as much

as he endures a city-wide chase against an enemy that

takes full advantage of Nathan Drake’s greatest enemy:

Sure-footing.

Half-Life 2We’ve lost count of the number of rockets we’ve fired

at helicopters through the years. It’s the go-to method

when fighting choppers, but Half-Life 2 remains

memorable thanks to a targeting system requiring you

to expose yourself to get the shot.

Prototype 2Prototype 2 antihero James Heller is a

powerful man that hates helicopters. By

the end of the game, it seems he’s made

it his personal mission to tear every

single one out of the sky in a lavish,

enjoyable display.

Super CContra is all about fighting aliens and

alien technology, so you would think a

fight against a plain old helicopter would

be dull. Thankfully, that’s not the case, as

the whirlybird clown-cars a consistent

stream of soldiers at you.\

X-Men Origins: WolverineWolverine fights many helicopters in Origins, and each

encounter is memorable. He leaps helicopter to helicop-

ter and rips them out of the sky with his claws, or grabs

the pilot and shoves their head into the spinning blades.

Metal Gear SolidThe Hind D in Metal Gear Solid is framed as a powerful foe early in the game. Taking

out the bird and its pilot, Liquid Snake, from a snowy rooftop with a rocket launcher is

an empowering and important moment in the continuous brother vs. brother war.

by Kyle Hilliard

Twisted Metal: Black As the saying goes, never bring a

helicopter to a car fight. Twisted Metal:

Black’s final battle is different than the

rest of the fights, and it’s empowering

to take out a flying vehicle with one that

can’t leave the ground.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare“All Ghillied Up” may be the most memorable level in

all of Call of Duty. The flashback scenario contains a

number of fantastic moments, but the near-death battle

with a helicopter that almost takes out your partner

stands out.

Bionic CommandoFor a game renowned for its challenge,

it’s surprising that taking out the antago-

nist, Master-D, requires only one well-

aimed shot on the cockpit of a gigantic

helicopter. It’s a tough shot, though, and

one few reached.20 connect

t o p

t e n


23/100

“...We’ve decided

that there will

not be a new

Assassin’s Creed

game in 2016.

Since the release

of Assassin’s

Creed Unity,

we’ve learned a

lot based on your

feedback. We’ve

also updated

our develop-

ment processes

and recommit-

ted to making

Assassin’s Creed

a premier open-

world franchise.”

– A pos t on the offi -

cial Ubisoft blog

about what’s next

for the series

Quotable

fans will not only be getting

a “large, new expansion” for

the title in 2016, but publisher Activision and developerBungie are also promising a sequel to the massively

multiplayer online shooter in 2017.

DESTINY

T h e U g l y

The Bad

The Good

will come out on PC the same day as its Xbox One

version on April 5 – making some Xbox One owners

angry that the game won’t enjoy even a modest exclusivity period on the home console.

QUANTUM BREAK

may have played their last encore. Both

Guitar Hero Live and Rock Band 4 have not

sold well, with Activision and Rock Band

peripheral-maker Mad Catz reporting less-

than-expected earnings from the games.

Mad Catz has been hit particularly hard by

the disappointing results, reporting $4.36million in losses for the fiscal year and the

layoff of 37 percent of its staff.

MUSIC GAMES

connect 21

T HE G O OD ,T HE B

A D , & T HE U GL Y

g. b

. u

.

T HE G O OD ,T HE B

A D , & T HE U GL Y


24/100

Few individuals were more

instrumental to the creation of

the first-person shooter genre

than John Romero. As one of the

co-founders of id Software, Romero

designed seven of the eight maps

included in Doom’s Episode 1, thewidely distributed shareware version

of the game that helped fuel its

massive popularity. The only Episode 1

level Romero didn’t have a hand in

creating was the final boss map,

known as E1M8 (Episode 1, Map 8) by

Doom’s still-thriving mod community.

Now after more than two decades

since Doom’s original release, Romero

has crafted his own ending to the

episode that started it all.

Romero surprised fans by simultan-

eously announcing the map via Twitter

and releasing it for free. Not only did

creating the level allow Romero to

brush up on his level design skills,

it was also an opportunity to deliver

a finale more in line with his original

vision for Doom’s first episode. “If I was

making E1M8 back then, I would have

made a level that was much bigger,”

Romero says. “It would have beenbigger than E1M7, because I wanted

the episode to culminate in this big,

epic level.”

Entitled Tech Gone Bad, Romero’s

new level has Doomguy investigating

a high-tech laboratory to find the

location of the demon-spewing portal

and shut it down. In addition to the

sprawling test site, players explore

massive outdoor areas, a maze-like

series of sewers, and two adjoining

installations. True to Doom’s classic

formula, Romero loaded the map with

secrets areas and hidden power-ups,

and higher difficulty levels drastically

ratchet up the enemy count. The

result is a level that feels novel, but

not necessarily new – an important

characteristic for Romero.

“I wanted to stay as close to the

original style as possible,” Romero

says. “And I also wanted to call backto parts of the [previous] levels that

players have already gone through. So

they remember – not only because it’s

today, but if it was back in 1993 when

the game came out – it would be like,

‘Oh, I remember when this happened

five levels ago.’”

Romero didn’t stop with homages to

the classic levels; he also adhered to

the same the limitations to make Tech

Gone Bad as authentic as possible.

“I wanted [Tech Gone Bad] to fit as if

I made it back then. So if I’d made it in

1993, I needed to restrict myself to the

shareware textures only, and not use

Romero Returns To Hell With a new first-person shooter on the horizon, legendary designer John Romero tests the watersby releasing a brand-new level for the original Doom.

by Jeff Marchiafava

22


25/100

jumping, not use mouse-look…”

A number of modern enhancements

have been made to Doom’s source

engine in the last 23 years, but Romero

only allowed himself one concession.

“All of the [modern Doom ports]

remove limitations on what’s called

visplanes – visible planes in your view,”

Romero says. “So I figured the only

thing I will depend on is that you’re

using a limit-removing source port,

which means I can put more lines in

the view and make it look cooler.”Romero also adhered to the same

personal design tenets he employed in

’93. “In the original Episode 1, usually

in every level I introduced something

new for the player to learn or do,”

Romero says. “So I needed something

new that the player could do in this

level, and I wanted to do something

that I hadn’t done even in Doom II or

Ultimate Doom.”

For Tech Gone Bad, Romero created

a winding corridor that crosses back

above another explorable area,

something the Doom engine isn’t

technically capable of. So how did hepull it off? The answer lies in creative

use of a technique known as the

“Doom jump.”

Jumping wasn’t possible in the

original Doom, but if players were

quick, they could sprint across small

gaps between platforms. “I used those

[Doom jump] gaps to create a 3D area,

where you’re going underneath an area

that you’ll eventually run across later,”

Romero says. Romero made liberal use

of Doom jumps in the outdoor areas of

the map as well, requiring the player to

dance over pools of acid while dodging

fireballs from an army of angry Imps.

Tech Gone Bad still culminates in a

final battle against two Barons of Hell,

affectionately referred to as the “bruiser

brothers” by fans. However, players

should expect a serious challenge.

“I made [Tech Gone Bad] surprisingly

more difficult than E1M7, just because

today’s players are much better, andI think that helps make the level really

fun,” Romero says. “After 20 years,

it’s as hard as it’s really going to get,

I think.”

As exciting as it is to play a new

Doom level from one of the original

creators, fans may be more interested

in Romero’s reason for creating it in the

first place. “I’m going to be making a

new shooter pretty soon,” Romero says,

“and I’m going to be doing a lot of level

design in it, so I wanted to warm up.”

So what made Romero want to

create a new shooter after all these

years? “Basically, I decided tocome back because I think I have a

good idea,” Romero says, laughing.

Romero wouldn’t divulge what that

golden idea is, but he did promise an

announcement in the near future, so

fans hopefully shouldn’t have to wait

long to find out more. In the meantime,

having a new Doom level from one

of the forefathers of the FPS genre to

keep us busy is a pretty good deal. \

ROMERO ON THE NEW DOOMDuring our interview, we asked what John Romero

thinks of id Software’s upcoming Doom reboot. So

far, the ex-co-founder of the company likes what

he sees. “I’m really excited to play it,” Romero says.

“I think what they’ve done with SnapMap is really

innovative and is going to bring a lot more people

into the game...the fact that you can take someone’s

map and modify it to make it even better but they still

retain the original credits is incredible.”

Considering Romero’s recent activities, his

endorsement of SnapMap should come as no surprise.

“I think that’s one of the powerful parts of Doom

coming out again, is supporting people that want to

make their own stuff in the game – but they get to

do it in such an easy way…and it’s easily shareable

with other people. So I think [id is] doing something

that’s probably more important than the game itself.”

connect 23


26/100

In 2014, reports indicated that The

Witness was nearing the finish line.

Were there any big changes that

pushed the release to 2016?

Nothing really changed. “Finish line” isrelative, right? I didn’t think it would be

as long as it has been; I was thinking,

“Oh, maybe six or eight months, we’ll

have this wrapped up.” But everyone

has a different interpretation. Basically,

that was a time when all of the major

components of the gameplay were

finalized…it just maybe needed to

go faster, or certain objects needed

to feel better. Because it’s such a big

game, this finishing took a long time.

If it comes down to working on it three

more months or having something

be kinda crappy, I’d rather work on it

three more months. There was no dra-matic setback or anything.

Are the puzzles able to enforce their

own rule, or did you need to manu-

ally program all possible solutions?

All other things being equal, it is best

if the program knows how to judge a

puzzle, because it’s less error-prone. If I

have to put in the solution, then I might

make a mistake, especially when there

are so many possible solutions that I

might not see some of them. For most

of the puzzle types, the program knows

how to verify that a solution is correct,

so I don’t actually need to foresee all

correct solutions… But then there’s stuff

in the game that the computer doesn’t

really know about, and those solutions

are all put in by hand – like when shad-

ows are falling on an object in a certainway. That’s just not something the com-

puter knows how to analyze.

So, if someone thinks they have a

correct answer that isn’t being rec-

ognized properly, they’re wrong?

They’re probably wrong. In fact, every

single one of those that anyone has

sent me is wrong.

Do any of the puzzle themes stand

out as being particularly difficult

to design?

The thing that was hardest to design

well is the cylinder puzzles. Because,you can wrap a puzzle around a cylin-

der, and that’s fine; you automatically

have a human factor now, since you

can’t see the whole puzzle. But if it

ends up being a puzzle that you could

solve just as well on a flat board, then

why is it on the cylinder? It’s not inter-

esting… So, all of the cylinder puzzles

are made in such a way that either the

connectivity of the space matters, or

the fact that your line has to go all the

way around matters.

Those cylinder puzzles defy sharing

solutions through screenshots. Was

that a reason for them being so near

the end of the game?

It was more just about building up to

interesting ideas. That whole end-game

shaft area is about taking the ideas

from earlier in the game and putting

them together in a way that involves

messing around with the presentation.

The medium between you and the puz-

zle. Though, there is one of those cylin-

der puzzles very early in the game, also.

Even though it’s right there, we sort of

build the scene so that people tend to

overlook it and go right past it.

Most of the design seems deliberate

and purposeful, which makes cer-

tain things (like the discarded trian-

gle panels) conspicuous. Does every

panel in the game do something?

It depends on what you mean by “do

something.” The triangle panels, for

example, definitely do something,

because otherwise there would be no

way for you learn what the more com-

plex triangle panels mean. Do they do

something in terms of opening a door

somewhere? No, they don’t… They do

get checked off on the lake in middle of

the island, so another thing they do ismake you feel good about completing

the lake. Usually things have another

purpose or bearing on something else.

Many players need to use pencils

and paper to help work through

puzzles. Was that something you

were consciously trying to bring to

the experience?

I wouldn’t say that I was deliberately

designing for pencil and paper as an

agenda, but I would say that I was defi-

nitely designing counter to the trend of

the last decade or more of just making

games really easy and making puzzles

THE WITNESS

An intricate and challenging puzzle game, The Witness is the new title

from Braid creator Jonathan Blow and his team at Thekla Inc. The project

began its development in 2008, and now that gamers are finally playing

it, we chatted with Blow about the process of creating this elegant and

intriguing experience. by Joe Juba

24

a f t e

r w o r d s


27/100

not be real puzzles. Triple-A compa-

nies especially do all this playtesting,

and anytime someone gets stuck on

something or gives negative feedback,

they change that thing. The thing about

hard puzzles is people are going to get

stuck on those, and they’re going to

say, “I didn’t like this.” It’s just being

willing to say, “No, this going to be in

the game.” Maybe if they’re super-hard,

they’re optional. You have to be willing

to have that stuff in the game.

The audio recordings that address

the story directly are hidden in an

optional end-game area. Why not

let players uncover them during a

normal playthrough?

It all came down to how big I wanted

the story to be in the ultimate experi-

ence. In early concepts of the game,

I thought that story was going to be a

very large part. But then as develop-

ment went on and I refined the game,

I kept revisiting the story and being

very unhappy with the way my concept

of the story would play out. Eventually

I decided that the story should be pret-ty small, in terms of how much of the

experience it makes up… I also don’t

like giving story as a reward for ongo-

ing play; I felt like I wanted to make a

game that had confidence, that people

really wanted to play the actual game

part of the game, that doesn’t need to

coax people through by giving them

story bits.

How did you select the videos for

the Windmill theater?

It was really about knowing what kinds

of ideas that I wanted in the game, and

the kind of presentation. All of thosevideos are, in one way or another,

people talking about ideas about how

to see the world. They are well-thought-

out viewpoints from people whose life

work is that. But the other thing about

them is that they’re all different view-

points. I’m not trying to put a bunch of

things together to make a unified point

or convince the player that these people

are saying different flavors of the same

thing. They’re saying different flavors of

different things, and that ties into what

the game is about at some level.

Some of the puzzles are inacces-

sible to some players – especially

those who have trouble hearing orseeing colors. Was this a consider-

ation during development?

We were very aware of that during

development. I actually spent a lot of

design time trying to design puzzles

that only colorblind players could

solve, but I didn’t succeed at that. But

the way that I designed for acces-

sibility is to just be aware that some

people aren’t going to be able to do all

of the puzzles, and then make it pos-

sible to complete the game without

those puzzles. There are a few specific

times where that happens. One very

obvious example is the sound-basedpuzzles; you’re just not going get one

of the lasers if you can’t hear… It’s a

similar thing with the color-blindness;

there’s basically one laser that requires

color sense. But the surprising thing

is that most color-blind people don’t

seem to have a problem in that area…

But it is still a problem for some peo-

ple, because there are different kinds

of color-blindness and magnitudes.

There are only a couple areas of the

game that are mandatory. To get the

ending, you only need seven lasers…

but there is a secret area that does

require every laser. You know what?If people want to get there, and they

have to look stuff up on the Internet

to get there, that’s fine. I’m totally cool

with that.

What did you think of the response

to your tweet about the pee bottle?

It was bewildering! Here I was with

a prop we used in filming – it was a

bottle of water with some food coloring

in it – and I was about to dump it out,

and I was like, “I should get a picture

of this before I dump it out.” I already

had done one about a week before

saying, “Here’s something I made in

order to help finish The Witness,” and

it was glasses with tape on them

and holes in the tape… So, I was like,“I know what to do with this bottle, I’ll

tweet another one of those.” But

I expected people to know that it was

a joke, and it would be mildly funny at

best. For some reason, people didn’t

know if it was a joke, and a lot of

people assumed it wasn’t. I saw indie

developers going off about quality of

life in response to that. Like, full-on 10-

or 15-tweet barrages about how this

isn’t a healthy way to develop games.

I’ve been a human male for 40-some-

thing years now; it doesn’t take very

long to get up for a second and go to

the bathroom. It just doesn’t. The ideathat it would be plausible that someone

would feel like they didn’t have time to

do that is fundamentally not credible.

I don’t know. It was very strange.

You’ve said that The Witness has

been successful enough to fund

another project of similar depth.

How long until you start thinking

about what’s next?

Well, I’ve started thinking about it

already. However, there’s a difference

between thinking about it and design-

ing a thing for real. In terms of actually

sitting down and starting to work onthe game in a real way, that probably

will not happen for a couple of months.

There’s a lot to do right now, and I

need a little bit of a vacation. \

connect 25


28/100

You’ve been doing this for a long

time. How many guides have

you written?

I think my total hit 100 exactly with

Fallout 4. That includes Game of the

Year editions, too.

You have written guides for massive

RPGs, including The Elder Scrolls

V: Skyrim. What kind of effort is

required for a project of that size?

The Skyrim Game of the Year guide is

1,120 pages, 780,000 words, and over

4,000 screenshots. All but one of those

screenshots I took myself, and the

other one was the guy from Bethesda

who wanted his character’s portrait

in the book. You take video of all of

the quests, and you do that multiple

times, to get all of the variations and

multiple paths. Then you move on todoing the atlas, so you visit every loca-

tion in the game…If you totaled up all

the hours, we (a co-worker and I) put

in over 6,000 hours – and that wasn’t

even writing the guide! That was just

the game.

Do you get cheat codes, or do you

have to play normally?

I have to use god mode and cheats,

but I always do my first playthrough

without them, because it affects the

strategy. For example, I play The

Witcher 3 like regular people would.

Then I spawn a quest and go through

it like a QA department would. Then I

play by getting a floating camera and

going over all of the map, and so forth.

You start writing when the game is

still in development. Are you everable to influence the content?

You need to go in and leave a light

footprint; the company is already in

the crunch time of all crunch times.

But sometimes companies do some-

thing really fun and cool for you. For

example, in The Witcher 3, the guy in

Novigrad’s books and scrolls store is

called Marcus T.K. Hodgson. So I have

my first video game character named

after me!

What’s your favorite game genre to

write guides for?

I enjoy writing travel guides to placesthat don’t exist…the big role-playing

games that are single-player. Witcher 3,

Skyrim, Fallout. Even Watch Dogs –

something like that with a large map

that I can really sink my teeth into.

Most guides are sold based on the

game on the cover rather than the

author. Have you encountered fans

that seek out your work specifically?

Most people don’t think of me as a

“real” author, and I’m completely fine

with that. I don’t consider myself to be

of the caliber of a proper author. But

I do have a small collection of people

that know my guides and enjoy them.

They know, going in, that they’re likely

to get a guide that’s as thorough as

human beings can do it within the con-

fines of the process.

What types of games do you play in

your free time?

I haven’t played a game for fun in

over a decade. I mean, I find my job

fun, but I devote all of my gaming

time to what I’m doing the guide for.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough

time to finish the guide. Anybody who

does a strategy guide probably has a

part of their brain that isn’t functioning

properly, and has a work/life balance

issue. [laughs] It’s a dream job. I love it,

and I’m incredibly lucky to have it. But

I also realize that it’s a job you need to

have a complete passion for, or else itwill chew you up and spit you out.

If not games, do you keep yourself

sane with other hobbies?

I’d have keeled over and died if I didn’t

have a dog I could take out for walks,

because it’s such a sedentary lifestyle.

But I also started to collect succu-

lents – different types of aloe and cacti.

I now have a Pokémon-style obsession

with collecting every variety. I grow and

tend to the succulent garden, which

I’ve found to be fantastic, because it

thrives on neglect. If I were growing

geraniums, I’d have some problems.

Name:

David S. J. Hodgson

Twitter:

@DavidSJHodgson

Occupation:

Author

Location: Los Angeles (by way of

Manchester, England) E

ven if you don’t recognize his name, you’ve probably benefitted from

the work of David S. J. Hodgson. The prolific author has been writing

strategy guides since 1995, and his recent work includes Prima’s

expansive official guides for Fallout 4 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. We

talked to Hodgson about his unique approach to games and the effort it takes

to unearth every detail and secret.

The Strategy Guide Machine

interview by Joe Juba

26 connect

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29/100

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The other guy.


30/100

While the story and tutorial don’t do

much to bring the player in (a tired,

cliché “vengeance for my fallen mas-

ter tale”), players will get a real sense

of what the game is about quickly as

they unlock abilities for their class,

each of which has their own special

flavor and mechanics. Whatever class

you choose, skill, timing, and atten-

tion count for a lot. My character, a

Destroyer, is a tanky frontliner who

wields a massive axe – not a wholly

novel concept. The originality shines

in execution of combat maneuvers;with a customizable set of power-

ful grabs, launchers, knockdowns,

and stuns, my character can walk

up to enemies, pummel them to the

ground, and pick them up and smash

them repeatedly before flinging them

through the air to knock into other

foes or delivering massive blows

that will put the enemy down for

good. It’s like Street Fighter’s Zangief

and Soulcalibur’s Astaroth had an

MMORPG love child.

Each character has a difficulty rat-

ing corresponding to how active and

responsive you have to be in combat,

chaining combos and linking moves,

and this system shines in single-player

and player-vs-player encounters. It’s

even more fun when you group up

via the cross-server dungeon finder

and start integrating your abilities into

other characters’ combos and knock-

downs. You can let the group hammer

on a defenseless monster you’re lift-

ing, or you can follow up on another

character’s launcher with your own

devastating attack.

This combat system is the absolute

gem of Blade & Soul and the reasonto play it. Other systems, like crafting,

seem barebones and boring compared

to other modern MMORPG offerings –

you simply click a crafting or gather-

ing button and wait hours and hours

for your items to collect or complete,

sometimes waiting up to 20 hours for

a completion. That said combat kept

me loving every encounter, from the

lowliest bandit to the most dangerous

opponents – other players.

Blade & Soul’s leveling process

is short compared to some other

MMORPGs. Even if you’re a solo

enthusiast, you’ll probably team up

casually during “field boss” encounters

to get yourself a cool outfit or a pile

of powerful soul shards (an analog

to armor sets from other games). By

placing armor into the soul shard slots

instead of clothing, players are free to

show off their style in their wardrobe

selection instead, as decorative wear

has no need to bestow stats. You may

be sporting the same weapon through

the whole process, but you feed it

other equipment to increase its power

and change its appearance.

As players look to the end-game, they’ll find the same things

they’ve come to expect from other

MMORPGs, such as high-end dun-

geons and raids and daily quests, with

the addition of serious, competitive

PvP sporting unique rewards for those

interested in that element of the game.

Blade & Soul is worth a try based on

the combat alone (it’s also free-to-play,

by the way). If you’re one of those

folks who is looking for an MMORPG

but the combat always feels stale, get

ready to be wowed by active counters,

parrying, and stimulating battles that

feel extremely satisfying.\

NCSOFT West’s bid to bring the winning Korean formula to North American players is an exciting

one, as Blade & Soul features some of the best combat I’ve ever experienced in an MMORPG. While

Eastern MMORPGs have long dealt with a reputation of being grindy, pay-to-win endeavors over on

Western shores, Blade & Soul’s over-the-top martial-arts fantasy dispels that notion by serving up exciting

gameplay that doesn’t get dull, monster after monster, dungeon after dungeon. Despite plenty of generic

quests and unexciting monsters to beat on, the combat systems propel Blade & Soul to greatness.

Blade & Soul Carried by combat

by Daniel Tack

28 connect

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31/100

“At its core, Indivisible is an RPG –

you explore environments, fight

monsters, complete quests, recruit

new party members, and level up,”

Bartholow says. “But unlike most

RPGs, the exploration component is

side-scrolling platforming, and we’ll be

building on the exploration component

with Metroid-like upgrades.” Like that

classic exploration game, Indivisible

tasks you with hunting down hidden

upgrades throughout a vast 2D world,

but instead of energy tanks, you’re

seeking weapons and armor for your

party members.

Indivisible’s setting is one of its most

intriguing features. The chief inspira-

tion is Southeast Asian mythology, and

many of the beautiful visuals and mys-

tical terminology arise from that source.

The unfolding tale eventually takes its

lead character everywhere from South

America to the Middle East. The story

focuses on Ajna, a young woman in

search of answers and justice after hertown is overwhelmed by local warlords.

“Along the way she discovers she has

a mysterious power – the ability to

fuse with and manifest certain peo-

ple – and much of her journey shifts

to discovering more about herself, in

addition to confronting the source of

the chaos increasing in the world,”

Bartholow says.

Lab Zero started work on Indivisible

as a pitch to a publisher looking for

something akin to Ubisoft’s Child of

Light. That goal led the team to

consider one of their shared favorites.

“Valkyrie Profile has a lot in common

with fighting games, making it a great

fit for our team,” Bartholow says.

That classic tri-Ace RPG featured an

innovative combat system in which

character attacks were mapped to the

controller’s face buttons, allowing for

intriguing combo attacks. That same

core concept powers Indivisible, but

with some significant variations. “As

much as we love Valkyrie Profile, it

has a time limit and not much room

for exploration, so we wanted to open

that up a bit more,” Bartholow says.

Combat in Indivisible is chaotic and

challenging, demanding carefully

timed defensive maneuvers, observa-

tion of enemy attack telegraphs, and

constant attention to a meter that

powers your super attacks. Each

member of your party has a unique

skill set, so another challenge is deter-

mining groups that combine well.

Your growing party of characterscomes along with a strange twist. “As

Ajna explores the world, she meets

a number of people – incarnations –

that for a reason we won’t be spoiling

today she can absorb into her being,”

Bartholow explains. “We’re thinking

that in order to fuse with someone

Ajna needs to be on a similar emo-

tional wavelength or empathize with

their situation before she can fuse with

them. So these fusions might happen

in key story moments, or for complet-

ing optional side quests.” Many

incarnations are dedicated party mem-

bers who join in battle and offer their

combat skills. Lab Zero is planning

for 27 playable characters. Just to

name a few, Kushi is a little girl who

commands a flying roc that drops

her into combat, Lanshi is a dog who

regressed into a lower lifeform upon

reincarnation, and Zahra is a musi-

cian who can devastate foes with her

sad songs.

These new heroes not only add their

strength to a fight, but might provide

Ajna with a new weapon or ability that

can help her better traverse the world.

For example, the spear lets her cre-

ate platforms in spiked walls, and the

chain-sickle lets her swing across gaps.

Other incarnations begin to populate

Ajna’s inner realm – a whole dimension

growing inside of her filled with people,

buildings, and activities. By pausing in

the world to meditate, she can enter

her own inner realm to talk to her

incarnations, upgrade weapons and

armor, and more. “So the Inner Realm

provides a lot of the functionality of

an RPG town, but without the need to

trek back and forth,” Bartholow says.

Indivisible is awash in intriguing

ideas, but the project is a long way out

from release, with a planned launch

in early 2018 on PlayStation 4, Xbox

One, PC, Mac, and Linux. The depth

of mythology, multiple gaming inspira-

tions, breathtaking art, and talented

team make this a game I plan to watch

closely as it draws nearer to release.

The Skullgirls CreatorsTackle Role-Playing

Switching creative direction can be a big challenge for a developer, as all the tricks and tools learned

in one genre might have little bearing on a new style of game. This is the challenge facing Lab Zero

Games as it broaches new territory in the RPG/exploration mash-up, Indivisible. After playing the

publicly available prototype, I spoke with CEO Peter Bartholow to learn how the project has continued toevolve since a nail-biter of a crowdfunding campaign.

by Matt Miller

Indivisible

PS4, Xbox One,PC, Mac, Linux

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32/100

“I think Zelda, Mario,

and the whole universe

of Nintendo characterswould be perfect for a

The Lego Movie type

movie. I don’t have the

rights to it, but I would

love to. That would be

my holy grail.”

– Vertigo Entertainment president

Roy Lee (left)

by Matt Bertz

Overheard at

D.I.C.E.Industry luminaries used the 2016conference to discuss emerging trends,

success stories, and crossover potential

between video games and film.

30


33/100

“In 1995 we were

making Civ II,

and people wouldcome around

and tell you if you

don’t capture a

user’s attention

in the fi rst hour of

gameplay you’re

in trouble. Thesedays it’s the fi rst

three seconds

or something

like that.” \–Big Huge Games founder

Brian Reynolds

“Mr. Iwata hasbeen gone forsome time now,and I think abouthim almost everyday. Mr. Iwata,

you were the bestof us.”

– Nintendo of America president

Reggie Fils-Aime

“Like in the cinema,

you have beautiful

indie games that

are subtle, or

poetic. It’s limitless.

It’s only limited

by the bastards with money.”

– filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro

“If you liked rock

‘n’ roll in 1971, you

have to love video

games today.”

– magician Penn Jillette

“We are doing three longer-termprojects. We’ll talk about them in thefuture. They are different from anything we have done before, while also being aBethesda-style game.”– Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard

“I feel

extremely free

right now. I am

trying to make

a big game

with a very

small team.

I am doing

exactly what I

want to do.”– Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo

Kojima on his new partnership

with Sony

connect 31


34/100

How did you get started in the

gaming industry?

I got started in the industry almost

by accident. I never really thought a

career in video games was achievable

by someone like me; I always thought

you had to be an amazing program-

mer or a really talented artist to have

a career in video games. I was pursu-

ing a career in film, and then writing. I

actually got my master’s degree in cre-

ative writing from New York University.

I was trying to get my short stories

published and work on a novel, but I

was still playing a ton of video games.

From Guildmate

To Game Director Jeff “Tigole” Kaplan got his first industry gig thanks to being an EverQuest guildmate of former

Blizzard chief creative officer Rob Pardo. His thoughts on game design landed him a job on reign-

ing MMO juggernaut World of Warcraft, and now Kaplan is the game director on one of 2016’s

most promising upcoming first-person shooters, Overwatch.

3232

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C a r r e ó n


35/100

interview by Daniel Tack

Games like Duke Nukem 3D and Half-

Life had map editors, and I’d make

maps and that sort of thing.

I spent a good part of my 20s trying

to get my writing published, and I

was failing. In one year, for example,

I had 172 rejections from different

magazines. I decided to take a break

from writing. Since I had all this freetime, I got really into EverQuest. I

started playing that game very hard-

core and just as the fates would have

it, my guild leader heard me talking

about how I made maps in Half-Life.

I thought he was just a fellow gamer

interested in seeing what I was doing.

It turned out that guild leader was

Robert Pardo, who at the time was

the lead designer on Warcraft III for

Blizzard Entertainment. What I learned

later was many of my guild members

in EverQuest worked at Blizzard.

The big irony there is that I didn’t

really know what Blizzard was. I didn’tplay StarCraft or Warcraft because I

was more of an FPS gamer. I played a

lot of id games.

They were like, “Hey, you live in L.A.,

why don’t you come down and visit

us at Irvine sometime?” Which is only

an hour away from where I was living.

At the time, World of Warcraft wasn’t

announced, so it was a secret that

they were working on an MMO. They

asked me to come down for what I

thought was just a series of lunches.

Back in those days, video games were

a little taboo; people didn’t talk about

them openly. I enjoyed having a groupof friends where we could talk about

our latest raid and how we’re going to

defeat this latest dragon. What I didn’t

realize at the time was that those guys

were interviewing me for a role with

World of Warcraft.

Eventually I remember Rob in guild

chat saying to me, “Hey, check the

job postings on the Blizzard website

tomorrow. There’s a job and I really

think you should apply for it.” It was for

a quest designer on World of Warcraft.

I swear to you the job description was

written exactly to my background.

“Super passionate about MMOs, haspast experience with MMOs, and by

the way we’re looking for someone

with a creative writing degree.” I felt

they were speaking to me.

What was it like playing EverQuest

back then? I remember it being

really hardcore. Do you feel like

those top guilds were a recruiting

ground for the games industry?

I describe what that game did for

gaming and me personally as nothing

short of magical. I regard EverQuest

as one of the greatest games of all

time. But you mention how hardcore

it was, and I agree with that. Not only

was it hardcore, it was very punish-

ing, and you needed a certain level of

tolerance to put up with the constant

defeat and constant recovery required

by the game. It was a very distilled,

smaller community, but everybody was

very passionate about the game and

gaming in general.This small community really per-

petuated and encouraged very deep

design discussions about the game.

Because of that it’s very easy to look

back at EQ or different websites or

forums and say, “Wow, this person,

who is that guy who calls himself

Furor? That guy is really smart about

playing EverQuest. He has really smart

things to say about raiding and the

way these mechanics should work.”

Then you look him up and it’s [current

WoW creative director] Alex Afrasiabi.

There were so many people like that

in EverQuest who really displayedtheir knowledge. In the early days they

weren’t called blog posts, but guild

leaders would post their thoughts

about the game and how they thought

mechanics should work.

Has your own commenting in that

circle shaped your thoughts on

passionate feedback?

Yeah, it absolutely has. One of my

favorite things is when players plunge

the depth of the Internet and they’ll

pull old quotes that I said and use

them against me. I find that very

humbling, and it’s very important toremember where I was coming from at

the time. But for me, writing and being

part of a big community was a lot of

fun. I had that background in creative

writing, so I loved expressing myself in

that way. It’s given me a real apprecia-

tion for community leaders, especially

people who are vocal and driving

community opinion.

In the early days of World of

Warcraft, I bonded with the people

running the uber guilds at the time. I

would reach out to as many of them

as possible and make sure they had

my email address. I was able to talkto them through DM tools. I would

go in as they were raiding and talk to

them, ask if everything was working

correctly, are you guys having any

issues – really try to open the dialogue

with them. I wish that had been done

with me when I was a player. I feel like

I could have helped make some of

the games I played better if there had

been an open dialogue with some of

the players. We’re not just nameless,

faceless developers who are ruthlessly

trying to make a game so we can

move on to the next one. We’re really

trying to build something great here,

and we know that happens with player

and developer interaction.

How did you move from making

MMOs to a first-person shooter?

That’s a great question. As I men-

tioned, shooters were really my first

love when it comes to video games.

Doom, Duke Nukem, Quake, and

Wolfenstein 3D were some of my big-

gest inspirations. That was an exciting

period of time, because we were start-

ing to see games from the first-personstandpoint and start to appreciate 3D

worlds, which was a whole new way of

looking at video games.

It’s something that I always wanted

to work on. I had an immense passion

for MMOs as well, but one thing that

I was never fully in love with in any

of the MMOs was the combat itself.

I think the combat was really fun, but

nothing quite spoke to me like play-

ing Quake III Arena in terms of action

combat, like how to really get your

heart pumping, that visceral feeling.

I’ve always been dying to work

on a shooter, and then there was agreat era of shooters in the 2000’s

that happened. Call of Duty 4 and

Modern Warfare 2 I think were some

of the greatest shooters of the present

era that were ever made. They were

absolutely fantastic games and really

inspired me. Team Fortress 2 was

just mega in my mind, because I had

grown up in that Quake community

where I played Team Fortress 1 as a

Quake mod. I remember it with great

nostalgia, and then I remember when

Team Fortress classic came out as

part of a Half-Life release and being

blown away by how much they hadprogressed the genre. Team Fortress 2

not only was a ju

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